Matt Key’s Top Ten Christmas Things to Watch

We here at Geek Girl Authority are dedicated to bringing you only the best news and articles, but we’re also dedicated to giving you our opinions in the hopes that they will give you ideas to pursue and options to consider. That’s why we’re giving you our top ten Christmas movies. Already, I’ve been reminded by Jenny that Gremlins took place around Christmas and now I know that, maybe, Penny Serenade is a movie I should see…

Anyway, here’s my list of top ten Christmas movies.

Oh, first things first, let me preface my list with this caveat: my movies are not necessarily “Christmas” movies — they’re just movies I really like to watch at Christmas time.

Also, these are not in any order of superlative greatness. The only order that these are in is the order in which they popped in to my head.

1. Scrooged
Bill Murray. Christmas. Enough said. But you want to hear more? This is honestly such a brilliant take on Dickens’ classic tale, at least the best re-interpretation. Murray is brilliant as over-stressed TV Exec Frank Cross, giving us so many brilliant moments, with a performance that’s filled with both humor and pathos. All the ghosts are great, though Carol Kane will always have a special place in my heart in her role as the Ghost of Christmas Present, who offers Frank a present-day wake up call in the form of LOTS of physical abuse. And that whole rant at the end from Bill Murray about the miracle of the season… brilliant.

2. Muppet Christmas CarolMuppets. Christmas. Enough said.
But, honestly, Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, Gonzo and Rizzo constantly breaking the 4th wall and little Robin as Tiny Tim.
Plus, Buster Bunny carrying around the biggest turkey in town is adorable. As much as I love Bill Murray’s rant at the end of Scrooged, the song at the end here always pulls out the tears.

3. Die Hard
I know it’s already been said, but damnit, I love this movie too. This is, by far, the greatest of the Die Hard franchise and is still, to this day, one of the greatest action flicks of all time. It just doesn’t get better than Bruce Willis playing hardened NY detective John McClane. The fact that this entire movie takes place at an office Christmas party is just one gigantic bonus.

4. ANY Harry Potter MovieIt’s completely inexplicable, but I love watching Harry Potter around the holidays. Maybe it’s the message of good over evil through relative non-violence, maybe it’s the idea of magic coming to life or maybe it’s just about seeing all the really awesome snow in Hogsmeade — doesn’t matter, I WILL be watching one of the Harry Potter movies this season.

5. A Christmas Story

Try to find a better, more quintessential Christmas movie than this one. Go ahead. Try. It can’t be done. That’s why TBS has now become famous for their 24 hour marathon and, guaranteed, it’ll be on in our house at least three times. Poor poor Ralphie…

6. A Very Venture Christmas
Perhaps my favorite show, of all time, is The Venture Brothers. If you’ve never seen it, shame on you. It lampoons every last aspect of pop-culture and our current obsession with super heroes in the best way possible. It even has this wonderful Christmas episode where Dr. Venture keeps having dreams influenced by every last Christmas movie ever as well as features the Krampus crashing their annual Christmas party. It’s only 11 minutes of your time and totally worth every minute.

7. ANY Doctor Who Christmas Special
C’mon. It’s not Christmas until you’ve seen the Doctor save the entire planet. Maybe he’s a strange hum bug that lives in the clouds (it’s actually his TARDIS) or maybe he’s on an interstellar cruise liner with Kylie Minogue — doesn’t matter — the egg nog does not come out until at least ONE Christmas special has been viewed.

8. Ghostbusters
Why should Christmas be any different from any other time of the year? It’s Ghostbusters. Why WOULDN’T I watch it?

9. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
It’s not Christmas until you’ve heard that weird noise that Rudolph’s nose makes — that wwwweeeeeeeerrrrrrreeeeh noise. Yeah. Did you know that? It’s like church bells announcing a wedding.

10. These two commercials

You know what I’m talking about. Screw every other Christmas commercial of all time. THESE are the classics.